The Mitherless Lammie

Carolina Oliphant, (Lady Nairne), 1766-1845

The mitherless lammie ne'er missed its ain mammie, We tentit it kindly by nicht and by day; The bairnies made game o't, it had a blythe hame o't, Its food was the gowan, wi dew drops o' May. 2. Without tie or fetter, it cou'dna' been better, But it wad gae witless the warld to see, The foe that it fear'd not, it saw not, it heard not, Was watching its wand'ring frae Bonnington Lea. 3. Oh, what then befell it, 'twere waeful to tell it, Tod Lowrie kens best, wi' his lang head sae sly; He met the pet lammie, that wanted his mammie, And left its kind hame, the wide warld to try. 4. We miss'd at day dawnin', we miss'd at night fa'in; Its wee shed is tenantless under the tree; Ae nicht i' the gloamin', it wad gae a roamin'; 'Twill frolic nae mair upon Bonnington Lea.